IE vs Firefox vs Chrome vs Opera

When it comes to browsing, there's a lot more than just Internet Explorer available. And there’s so much more you can get done, so many extra features you can have.

These are four of the more popular Web browsers currently battling for supremacy in cyberspace. Read on to find out what they are all about.

Internet Explorer (IE)

Internet Explorer (IE) is the oldest of the pack, and somehow, resting on their laurels hasn’t done them much good. They are still the largest user base, but that probably has a lot to do with the fact that it comes bundled with Windows.

One major aspect going for IE is that it offers maximum compatibility to websites. You may come across a few Web pages that aren’t completely suited to view in other browsers but that number is few and far between. IE has also started offering add-on functionality like their major competitor Firefox.

Firefox

The favourite of millions and pipped to take over the top spot from IE very soon, Firefox is known for its ease of use, 1000s of free extensions, add-ons and themes.

There are extensions for literally everything that you feel the need for. If you know what you are doing, then Firefox is immensely tweak able to Net faster speeds.

Chrome

Google's Chrome (unsurprisingly) offers the best integration with the Google search engine and other Google extras. It’s the one to try if you are a Google fan. Google waited and waited to launch their browser, so that they could pick up the best features from all the others.

Plus there are some nice little extras-- like instant thumbnails of oft-visited websites (which can also work against you!) and ‘incognito’ mode, which lets you browse through websites without leaving a trace. Another big advantage is that Chrome treats each tab as separate in the interests of stability and speed. Here, if one tab crashes because of a website, only that tab will close, and not the entire session or browser.

Opera

Opera is not very popular, primarily because it is not completely customisable. But it does offer a lot of features and extras by default which have to be added manually in Firefox.

Only thing is, Firefox comes to you in a lean, streamlined and speedy form, which you then add to according to your exact requirements. Opera is a little 'bloated' in that regard. But they were the first to offer integrated mail, widgets, chat and RSS clients.

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